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We want to take a moment to spotlight our friends over at First Second Books. The graphic novel imprint showcases a lot of variety in their graphic novel releases, some of which they offer for free, in serialized webcomic form, over on their site under the “To Be Continued…” umbrella.

One strip covers a young blogger in present day Iran, another is a high school fantasy series, yet another follows the adventures of Mark Twain and the mermaid who finds him on the Hudson…

Winner of the grand-slam of awards from the comics industry—the Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz—for his short story Same Difference, and the artist on Gene Yang’s beloved The Eternal Smile, Derek Kirk Kim delivers a daily dose of pleasure with Tune. A modern day art school graduate’s quest for a job, a love story and a comedy on the stuff of life, with interference from other dimensions.

A blogger in present-day Tehran searches for his missing brother, and takes us on a revealing, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes shocking journey through the repressive regime. Because of Facebook and Twitter, the Iranian government could not hide its brutality in the aftermath of the fraudulent elections of June 2009. The world watched in horror, witnessing the murder of Neda and other young Iranians, who are very much like young people here and anywhere.

Serializing in many languages, including Persian and Arabic, Zahra’s Paradise is being read in over 125 countries, including in Iran itself. Hailed in the media in many countries as a groundbreaking project, it puts you in Tehran, on the ground, in the shoes of ordinary Iranians caught up in a heroic struggle.

More than a comment about current events since the stolen election, Zahra’s Paradise adds its voice to the voices shouting from the rooftops of Tehran.

Come aboard the Lorelei, in 1887 New York, and be transported back to a time when steamships ruled the mighty Hudson River, mermaids were not yet improbable, and men still staked their lives on the possibility of myth and the power of love.